clxii 



^g^ — Remarks on the Ahkdri Administration of the Madras Presidency. 



The principles formulated by the Secretary of State for India in 

 regard to abkdri administration and accepted by the House of Com- 

 mons during the recent debate on this question are stated in the letter 

 of the Government of India of 16th May last to be as follows: — 



(1) Any extension of the habit of drinking among Indian popu- 



lations is to be discouraged. 



(2) The tax on spirits should be as high as may be possible with- 



out giving rise to illicit methods of making and selling 

 liquor. 



(3) Subject to the above considerations, a maximum revenue 



should be raised from a minimum consumption of intoxica- 

 ting liquors. 



2. The discouragement of drinking is thus the primary object 

 aimed at in abkdri arrangements. A total prohibition of the consump- 

 tion of liquors among classes of people addicted to the use of them 

 would, however, cause great hardship and be incapable of enforcement 

 even if desirable. The drinking classes in such a case would almost 

 to a certainty supply themselves with liquor by illicit distillation and 

 smuggling, and get demoralized by law-breaking as well as drinking. 

 The object in view is therefore sought to be attained by subjecting 

 liquors to a high duty, so high as to act as a check on consumption, 

 and yet not so high as to caase an outbreak of illicit distillation or 

 smuggling, which cannot be coped with except by employing preven- 

 tive establishments at enormous cost. The limit of taxation which 

 satisfies the above conditions is not the same in all places but varies in 

 different places, and even in the same place at different times, accord- 

 ing to idiosyncrasies of race, taste and lawless habits, climatic differ- 

 ences, efficiency of prevention, facilities for illicit distillation and other 

 circumstances ; and the problem of excise administration consists in 

 finding this limit for the different parts of the country and ad j usting 

 the duty with reference to it. 



3. Revenue is not to be the main object in abkdri arrangements, 

 that is to say, it is not to be developed by lowering the duty and 

 extending consumption of intoxicating liquors, but by enhancing the 

 duty and restricting consumption. Subject to this condition, it is a 

 desirable object to develop the revenue (1) by pushing up taxation to 

 the limit already referred to, (2) by taking care that as little of the 

 realizable revenue as possible is diverted from the coffers of the State 

 and absorbed by middlemen or others to whom privilege of sale, &c., 

 of liquors may be granted. The taxation of liquors has this great 

 advantage over other forms of taxation of commodities in general 

 consumption, viz., that while the latter are objectionable in that and in 

 so far as they restrict consumption, the former is beneficial for that 

 very reason. 



4. The following facts will show that the principles and considera- 

 tions above adverted to have been steadily kept in view in all abkdri 

 arrangements in this Presidency during the last 15 or 20 years, and 

 that this Government may justly claim to have attained, in spite of 

 difficulties met with at the outset, a very considerable measure of 

 success in the application of those principles. 



